Sessions and 'that crack cocaine thing'

‘And Mr. Henderson, it’s good to work with you. Sen. Leahy and I are talking, during these hearings, we’re going to do that crack cocaine thing that you and I have talked about before.”

So spoke Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) during Sonia Sotomayor’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings. To his credit, he responded to the ensuing laughter with good humor.

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Now, I should admit that I am the “Mr. Henderson” in this statement, which has been widely reported in newspapers and blogs and even posted on YouTube. But please trust me on this: Sessions wasn’t talking about doing anything with me and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) that we wouldn’t want the world to watch.

You see, “that crack cocaine thing” refers to reforming the federal law that creates a 100-to-1 disparity in federal cocaine sentencing, thereby discriminating against African-Americans and low-income people, who are generally more likely to be nabbed by police while possessing the less costly, solid and smokable drug than are wealthier users who buy the higher-priced powder.

As the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee and a former federal prosecutor and Alabama attorney general, Sessions understands that this law doesn’t work and isn’t fair. When this law-and-order Republican wants to revise a law that was enacted in the midst of the anti-crack movement 23 years ago, it’s time for the rest of us to come to our senses, too.

In the aftermath of the public outcry over the death of University of Maryland basketball star Len Bias (who actually overdosed on powder cocaine, not crack), Congress passed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986. Getting tough on crime and drugs is a worthy goal, but the law’s penalties and their unintended consequences are way out of kilter with any reasonable goals for law enforcement or social policy.